Error? Canada 1278A: Silver Omitted

The following is a scan of Scott 1278 - Canada Flag with Fireworks that has the silver inscriptions missing. Making it possibly the Unitrade error - #1278a.



However, Unitrade states that this error is 'untagged' and this stamp is tagged!

Has anyone heard of a tagged version? Are dealers holding back any tagged versions until they can account for a full sheet's worth before updating Unitrade? Although this stamp was issued 20 years ago and any additional errors would have been reported by now.

My version is MNG, and been compared with other #1278s and it looks like it is an original stamp - just with the silver omitted. I can see now signs that the silver was initially printed and then removed.

Has anyone seen/heard of forgeries like this?

The instant thought I have is that your stamp was soaked in some sort of chemical that dissolved the silver ink, removing the gum at the same time (or removing it when the stamp was washed in water to remove the chemical). Just a guess, however.

Ryan

What Ryan says is true.

There have been other Canadian stamps washed this way only to fool the unwary collector.

Chimo

Bujutsu

A ten foot pole comes to mind